Welcome to the class blog of Ben Villarreal's Freshman English 12 Course: Visual and Verbal Literacies! Here you'll find the thoughts, ideas, and burgeoning written work from our class about the multiple literacies we experience.

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28 February 2012

What Dylan Horrocks thinks about Scott McCloud's Inventing Comics

In Scott McClouds definition of comics by Dylan Horrocks he writes how Scott McCloud uses controversial argument, and that he is a man on a mission in trying to persuade others in seeing comics from a different perspective or perhaps his perspective. Horrocks says that McClouds book is a work of theory, the most important of comic books created thus far. Horrocks talks about how McCloud is showing the readers that there is much more to comics than poorly drawn cartoons. How Scott McCloud uses what Eisner identified as 'art of comics' with the term 'sequential art' and rewrites it as dictionary-style and renames it 'comics'. How he erases comic margining status by repositioning them as use of method of communication. Horrocks compares McClouds comics to a map claiming that it is McClouds way in helping the readers understand what he is writing. He also goes on to write that McClouds definition of comics is itself a metaphorical system. i.e. comics are a visual medium. hoorrocks explains that by using a metaphor and using it correctly it highlights something they want the reader to focus on. Horrocks points out when McClouds says that Egyptian paintings are comics, but childrens books are not. By McClouds definition of comics I would say that childrens books are comics. If you can open up a childrens book with pictures only and mke out what is going on then it is a comic!